Ganuza approved as Spain's competition chief until 2032 after a 15-minute hearing with no questions from government allies

A brief hearing without questions

Spain's parliament approved four new members of the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia on Tuesday, installing Juan José Ganuza as president for a six-year term that runs until 2032. The session lasted barely fifteen minutes. PNV spokesperson Idoia Sagastizabal and Esquerra's Inés Granollers both declined to ask the candidate any questions, while EH Bildu's Oskar Matute and BNG's Néstor Rego did not attend. Socialist spokesperson Pablo Antuñano praised Ganuza's CV without posing a question of his own.

I am not going to ask questions.

Sumar's spokesman, Carlos Martín Urriza, revealed that his group had already met Ganuza before the formal hearing. He said the candidate's curriculum was "impressive" and that "one would say the post was designed for you".

Who the new CNMC leadership is

Ganuza, an academic with three decades in regulation and competition research, arrives from Funcas, where he directed the Competition and Market Regulation Division, and from the presidency of the Economics Area at the State Research Agency. Before Congress, he described himself as "passionate about competition" and stressed that he has never belonged to any political party. The three new councillors confirmed alongside him are Carmen Balsa, who served as chief of staff to former first vice-president Nadia Calviño; Joan Capdevila, a former ERC deputy; and Marina Echebarría, a former Sumar candidate in Castilla y León and, according to Europa Press, Spain's first transsexual female professor of Commercial Law.

The vote and the political storm

The Economics Committee approved the four designations by 19 votes in favour against 17 opposed, after PP and Vox tabled vetoes against all the candidates. Junts did not vote, clearing the path for the government's slate. PP spokesman Miguel Ángel Paniagua did not question Ganuza's academic record but criticised him for accepting a post alongside councillors the PP considers unsuitable. Pilar Alía accused the government of "colonising" the institutions and said the nominees' independence "shines by its absence". Vox's Pablo Sáez called the package further evidence of "handing out posts among government parties and concessions to separatist formations".

I will need six years for you to see how wrong you are.

Ganuza stated that throughout his career he has both supported and criticised government decisions equally. Balsa avoided questions on the independence issue, while Capdevila and Echebarría insisted they would not act on instructions from political parties.

The new president's three priorities

Ganuza laid out three concrete challenges for his term. The first is digital markets and artificial intelligence, where he wants to develop "dynamic and preventive regulatory tools that avoid the abuse of dominant positions" and strengthen cooperation with the European Commission's digital directorates. The second is public procurement, which he called "fundamental to guarantee efficiency and the best use of public resources", and where he pledged to boost the CNMC's economic intelligence unit. The third is reform of merger control, including the EU's revision of guidelines on business concentrations, to incorporate innovation effects alongside the traditional price-impact test.

I firmly believe that competition democratises markets, lowers prices, raises the quality of services, transfers productivity gains to workers' wages, incentivises companies to innovate and drives the economy to grow.

The shadow of a possible split

Ganuza also faced a question on whether the CNMC should remain intact or be split into separate regulators. PNV's Idoia Sagastizabal suggested the moment is right to debate whether the current structure is the most suitable. Ganuza replied that the academic world itself is divided on optimal regulatory design and that the decision belongs to the legislature, not to the CNMC president. The government previously floated creating a separate National Energy Commission, a proposal now resting with Brussels. The new leadership takes office with the opposition already warning it will watch for signs of political direction, while Ganuza has promised a "qualitative leap" in the agency's resolutions.